About three months later, the first renters will move into the new apartments, said Lee Patke, executive director of Greccio Housing, one of the three organizations orchestrating the project.

The other five new buildings will come online four to six weeks apart following the initial opening, he said. Mary Stegner, executive director of Partners in Housing, and Nate Clyncke, executive director of Rocky Mountain Community Land Trust, make up the other partners in the development.

When completed in mid-2025, 168 new one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments of independent living for families, singles and veterans earning between 30% and 60% of the area median income will be on the market.

Together with the existing 24 units on the site, the development will feature a total of 192 apartments. Twenty-eight units will be reserved for veterans who receive housing vouchers and assistance through the federal Department of Veterans Affairs.

“We’ll have 44 of the 192 at 60%, but the majority will be for 50% or below, for which we have very high demand,” Patke said. “We see no problem filling these units. We’re pretty excited; it’s a big project.”

The complex spans more than 7 acres and has been 15 years in the making. It’s unusual because of the structure of three local nonprofits undertaking the effort, he said, since developments of this size normally involved out-of-state investors and overseers.

“This project is important to our three organizations for the benefit of our community,” he said.

To read the full article, please visit here. 

The post Bentley Commons catches Gov. Polis’ eye during Colorado Springs visit appeared first on Partners in Housing.

We use many methods of tracking Partners’ hard work and progress and are pleased to share these core outcomes with you!

What it all means:

Improved Housing – % of families that successfully moved on to their own stable housing after exiting our one-year Family Self-Sufficiency Program. (The national average for transitional housing is around 65%.)

Improved Self-Sufficiency – % of families that improved their overall self-sufficiency showing increased confidence, accountability, and the application of new life skills.

Improved Job Preparedness – % of adults that are more employable after attending our one-on-one Work It! Sessions. In these sessions, clients work on their resume, participate in mock job interviews, take career assessments, and work on building other skills that increase their likelihood of securing that next job opportunity.

Improved Income – % of families that have a higher income exiting our program than when they entered.

Improved Employment – % of families that improved their employment situation. This could be a higher wage, more benefits, and opportunity for advancement.

Improved Education – % of families that improved their formal education. This can range from getting their GED to receiving a college degree. This measure varies based on the families’ needs and ability to start a formal education program.

In March of 2024, Partners in Housing’s intake team reevaluated the onboarding process for families entering the Self-Sufficiency Program to better streamline access to services and housing support. Partners in Housing’s waitlist has been eliminated, and families are now accepted based on family size in conjunction with housing units available to meet their needs. This change has allowed parents and children to receive housing stability, childcare, healthcare, therapy, and other vital individualized service support at a much quicker rate, ensuring families have the best opportunity to achieve their financial and career goals during their time with us.

The post Measuring What We Value appeared first on Partners in Housing.

Jan. 22, 2024

Article by Debbie Kelley

In a unique approach, three Colorado Springs nonprofits well known in the affordable housing arena have combined their brain power, leadership, money and good name to add much-needed stock for very-low to low-income residents.

The Bentley Commons expansion in southeast Colorado Springs is meaningful for the organizations as well as the community, said Mary Stegner, executive director of Partners in Housing, which operates nearly 70 transitional housing units and supportive services to families that are homeless or in danger of homelessness. It’s one of the organizations leading the development.

“It’s hard for people to understand how exciting this is; it’s finally happening,” she said.

Greccio Housing, which leases affordable rentals in 28 apartment developments, and Rocky Mountain Community Land Trust, which offers affordable home ownership programs for households with modest incomes, are the other partners in the trio of project orchestrators.

Drone footage of the 7-acre site off Hancock Expressway near South Academy and Astrozon boulevards shows the scope, commitment and complexity of the project that’s been 15 years in the making, Stegner said.

Originally constructed as luxury condominiums leasing for $300,000 apiece when completed in 2007, the developer went bankrupt as the Great Recession took hold and the housing market plummeted.

To read the Gazette’s full article, please visit here. 

The post Luxury Condo Transformed appeared first on Partners in Housing.

60 one-bedrooms, 105 two-bedrooms, and 27 three-bedrooms

27 units @ 30% AMI, 19 units at 40%, 102 units at 50%, and 44 units @ 60%

Medici Development Group, an experienced and successful development consultant, is the technical consultant and construction manager for the project. Medici is a valued consultant on other local projects, including the recently opened Atrium at Austin Bluffs and the in-development Sunrise at Shiloh Mesa project. Palace Construction is a statewide leader in the construction of multi-family apartment projects and has been selected as General Contractor. Funding commitments include those from the City of Colorado Springs, El Paso County Housing Authority, Myron Stratton Foundation, Colorado Division of Housing (pending), and Colorado Housing and Finance Authority. Service and support providers will include Greccio Housing’s Resident Resource program, transitional housing from Partners in Housing, the VA Supportive Housing voucher program, and numerous community partners and providers. Property management for the expanded complex will be provided by Greccio Housing and its Commercial Real Estate Services division. The need for affordable housing continues to increase in the face of inflation, the desirability of our community, a still-red-hot housing market, and rising rents. Greccio, Partners in Housing, and Rocky Mountain Community Land Trust have remained committed to expanding Bentley Commons for over 13 years, including a multi-disciplinary design Charrette, purchasing additional land, collaborative project design and determining the population to be served, a completed Development Plan, and completion of extensive environmental review and assurance of a safe and healthy home to hundreds of citizens.

The post Bentley Commons Press Release appeared first on Partners in Housing.

With fall here, and winter approaching, families have heightened concerns around staying healthy and being able to keep their children in school and daycare. They are affected by high costs and increasing demand for required services. Finding childcare so they can go to work is an enormous barrier. Finding transportation, or paying related costs, is another barrier to their ability to earn the living wage needed to support their family.

When Jessica’s* car broke down, she lost her only form of transportation. With limited support from family or friends, she was unable to start her new job or get her daughter to daycare.

When winter break approached last year, Danielle* wasn’t sure where to look or what to cut in her already tight budget so her kids could eat lunch. Through SNAP benefits, she could provide breakfast and dinner for her children, but the benefits didn’t stretch enough to cover lunch which school typically provided. She was making $15/hour while also working on her GED so she could increase her earning potential, but until that time, she had to figure something else out.

Families in our program have to make difficult decisions while finding the strength and resilience to continue moving forward. The support and stability of our program, paired with their grit have resulted in some remarkable outcomes. Take a look at the Family Outcomes graphic below to see the great success achieved by the families while navigating the many obstacles placed in their path.

For over 30 years, we have been committed to providing the most effective services to support the families that come into our program. We use many methods of tracking the families’ hard work and progress and in addition to reporting purposes, we use the measurements as an ongoing evaluation tool so we can be dynamic and nimble with our service delivery as the needs of families continue to change.

We are so incredibly proud of the many accomplishments achieved by the families in our program this past year and are pleased to share these core outcomes with you!

To read our full Fall 2022 Newsletter, visit here

The post Families Face Challenges appeared first on Partners in Housing.

“This used to be an old hotel and a restaurant. So people drive by and often wonder, what is that? What are they doing? So we were just raising awareness. We’ve got so many new neighbors in this community,” said Keri Ellen White, board member for Partners in Housing.

To read the full article on KRDO, visit here.

The post Partners in Housing Board Member shares a personal story appeared first on Partners in Housing.

Based in Colorado Springs, this platform is brought to you by photographer/videographer, graphic designer, marketer & real estate agent, David Berg-Johnsen. You can find The Springs Guide on Youtube, Instagram, or Facebook.

ABOUT THE SPRINGS GUIDE & BERG-JOHNSEN MEDIA ——————————————————————————————-

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Each Keller Williams office is independently owned and operated. Keller Williams Realty, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer and supports the Fair Housing Act.

The post The Springs Guide: Nonprofit Highlight appeared first on Partners in Housing.

For Financial Literacy Month, Partners in Housing and Eastern Colorado Bank are working to train and teach money management and personal finances to individuals.

Jillian Birchmeier with Partners in Housing says the non-profit helps about 120 families a year get back on their feet. Last year, Partners in Housing says they had an 87% success rate in helping families gain safe and stable housing.

“Families that are in housing crisis come to us, we provide them with a year of housing and a lot of supportive services,” added Birchmeier.

According to the non-profit, the majority of the families in the program are led by single moms.

Partners in Housing teaches individuals to set aside roughly 30% of their monthly income for housing and also be consistent with their paid-on-time history. Birchmeier says getting into the habit of saving a set amount of money a month will help people be more secure in their finances and more stable once leaving the program.

The non-profit says its ability to help the community is made possible through the help of money mentors. Currently, Partners in Housing has 12 money mentors, two of them are from Eastern Colorado Bank. Those volunteers help individuals with budgeting and provide credit counseling through one-on-one monthly sessions.

To read the full article on KRDO, visit here.

This article was written by Jasmine Arenas, an MMJ and Anchor for Telemundo Surco and KRDO NewsChannel 13 

The post Helping families this Financial Literacy Month appeared first on Partners in Housing.

Sarah’s Story 

At Partners in Housing, we strive to see every family in our program successfully move out of crisis and to a place of stability. We guide families on their self-sufficiency journey by providing a year of transitional housing, personalized case management, budget and credit counseling, career readiness workshops, life skills classes, and access to our free Donation Centers. We are proud to announce our latest program offering – housing navigation.

When budgets are tight, navigating the housing market can be difficult for anyone. Factor in that 50% of Partners in Housing families have an eviction on their record and things quickly become more complicated.

We hired Sarah Seales as our full-time Housing Navigator in January to assist families on their search for housing beyond our program. Sarah is giving families the greatest chance for success by having one-on-one meetings and walking through a variety of documents such as the documentation required to apply for housing, the key factors landlords are looking at when reviewing applications like income, employment history, rental history, credit score, and criminal background, and determining what properties make the most sense to apply to based on budget, eligibility, needs, and preferences.

In addition to meeting with the families, Sarah is an advocate, building relationships with landlords and property managers and showing that the families we recommend can be trusted to pay their rent on-time and take good care of their property. Landlords and property managers don’t have to look any further than Sarah for proof of program success. Sarah and her two daughters were in the Partners in Housing program in 2012. Sarah worked incredibly hard and successfully moved onto stable housing upon graduating from the program. Nine years later, Sarah is back, this time as a Partners in Housing employee, advocating for families and giving them the best chance at success.

While every family’s story is different, Sarah knows what it’s like to be on the other side of the table. She understands how overwhelming and daunting it can feel when starting out and so she wrote a letter to program families in hopes of showing there’s light at the end of the tunnel if they show up, work hard, and take one step at a time.

“Here you are. You might not have ever imagined you would be in this place. I know I didn’t see it coming in 2011 when I found myself and my daughters with no place to live and too small of an income to make ends meet. I did everything I could to keep myself afloat but I just couldn’t do it…not on my own. There’s a team now to help you figure it all out but I know from experience that it isn’t all easy from here…”

Sarah, like many other families in the program, arrived with very little. A divorce left Sarah, a stay-at-home mom, without a home, without a job, and without the time to find a job that paid well enough to support her and her two kids. She turned to the Partners in Housing program in an effort to give her daughters a place to call home while she figured out her next steps. When we talked with Sarah, she told a story about how her daughters didn’t know they were technically homeless when they in our housing. She said her daughters were so excited about the free Donation Center and the house they were in. It wasn’t until years later when a Partners in Housing representative coincidentally visited one of her daughter’s schools and talked about our agency that her daughter connected the dots.

Sarah worked incredibly hard while in the program, built up her resources, and was able to find an apartment and a job with the right income. Before working at Partners in Housing, Sarah owned and operated a thriving cleaning business for several years and was able to employ others in need of an income. In 2020, Sarah closed her cleaning business in order to work full-time as the Housing Navigator for Partners in Housing.

Thank you, Sarah, for your inspiring work with the families in our program. We and the families in our program are lucky to have you.

The post Newest Program Offering: Housing Navigation appeared first on Partners in Housing.

Angela* never thought she would be homeless.

With a decent job, she was able to provide a stable home for her three children. When her landlord increased her rent dramatically, she was forced to look for another place to live.

She found a dream home on Craig’s List: perfect size, affordable rent, and still in the neighborhood where her kids went to school. She filled out the application and was approved, so she sent in her deposit and first month’s rent and waited for move-in day. Unfortunately, the listing was a scam and her savings was now gone. Unable to afford a new deposit, she moved from place to place, staying with friends and family until Partners in Housing accepted her. Considerable debt had racked up in that very short time. “I was so scared to look at my credit report after that, but the credit counselor put things in perspective and helped me come up with a plan to pay down my debt and get current with my bills.”

Armed with new knowledge and confidence, she contacted her creditors, made payment arrangements and began working with a Money Mentor to set up a workable budget. Money Mentoring pairs families with certified credit counselors for regular meetings to improve credit while volunteers and staff review budgets on a monthly basis.

At the end of her year, Angela’s credit score increased 120 points and was higher than it had ever been, meaning she did not have to come up with an additional deposit when she moved. “I am so grateful to the Money Mentor volunteers for understanding my situation and walking with me in this process.”

Families are also provided with Life Skills classes on a monthly basis that cover topics such as home ownership, financing a vehicle, self-care, and more.

If you would like to make a difference in the life of a family experiencing homelessness as a Money Mentor or a Life Skills Instructor, please reach out to our Volunteer Coordinator, Tarin Potter, at Tpotter@partnersinhousing.org 

The post More than Just Housing: Angela’s Story appeared first on Partners in Housing.